Project Description

Large Internal Pipe Inspection Robot

Challenge:

Design a robot to lay cable in an abandoned pipeline… …4500’ long with four 90° bends …buried in permafrost at -20°F …located on the north slope of Alaska …in January …with an 8 week delivery schedule!

Solution:

Electromechanica, Inc. designed, built and deployed a pipe inspection and cable laying robot to meet these challenges. The cable laid by the robot was used to transmit process control information from an array of oil wells in the Arctic Ocean back to the control center in Prudhoe Bay. The internal pipe inspection robot has front and rear facing cameras and lighting to provide video feedback of the condition inside the pipe. The robot has two rear wheels to provide propulsion and one front idler wheel to maintain alignment and balance within the pipe. Electromechanica, Inc. designed the robot to “self steer” by utilizing side casters that keep the robot rolling around corners. The ability to travel through long runs of pipe was achieved by mounting the robot’s cable tether directly to the robot. This allowed a constant tension to be applied to the tether as opposed to a progressively increasing tension as is typical of conventional tethered robots.

Have a challenging pipe inspection project? Electromechanica, Inc. can customize a robot with sensors or other equipment to achieve success in your most challenging internal pipe inspection project. Call us today.